Make a person ineligible for election/appointment to a state/local elective office or hold a position in public employment that is policy-making or has authority over public assets, if:

the person was convicted of a felony involving DISHONESTY, DECEIT, FRAUD, or A BREACH OF THE PUBLIC TRUST....Are you kidding me? Minus the felony part this describes most politicians.]]>Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:13:21 GMThttp://carlaschechter.weebly.com/post-spartan-depression/hersheys-subliminal-message

Just saw a Hershey Kisses with caramel commercial and at the end there's a mother and son eating them together. The son is African-American and the mom looks like she might be mixed, you know caramel complexion. I don't mean to be racist, but is this some sort of parallel to the chocolate and caramel that went into the Kiss?? Hmmmm...

Unfortunately, he left about 30 minutes before my shift started. :( Everyone said he was so nice and even took pictures with some of my coworkers! They had already printed out an 8X10 and had it framed by the time I came in. Guess that's the benefit of working in an electronics store, camera's, memory cards and printers just there for just such moments.

I wonder what he was doing in the area. I know he's from Saginaw/Detroit so maybe he was visiting friends? I don't think he's touring or anything....

In Obion County, Tennessee, Gene Cranick, forgot to pay his yearly $75 fee to support the local fire department. A bush nearby his house caught fire, later engulfing his house in flames. When he called to have the fire dept. put out the fire, they informed him they wouldn't come out because the fire was not life-threatening. It wasn't until the neighbors house became in danger(they paid the $75) that the fire dept. came to the scene.

Gene Cranick even told the fire dept. that he would pay whatever it cost to have them come out. He said, "I just forgot to pay my $75," he said. "I did it last year, the year before...It slipped my mind."

This devastating tragedy left the Cranick's house to burn to the ground and took the lives of their three dogs.

"So upset by the situation, Cranick’s son Timothy sought out the fire chief and punched him, according to police. He was charged with aggravated assault."

Now, I understand that in rural areas where there is a larger area for the fire dept. to cover, they need extra funds in order to run their stations. I also understand that if the fire department came out to the put the fires out at homes who did not pay the annual fee, that no one would pay the fee in the future. However, I think it's just wrong to require residents to pay for emergency services. I feel like this situation never works, and there will always be the outliers who are too poor, or forgetful or just don't care about paying that extra $75 a year for the fire department. There is a time and a place for privatization of public services, and emergency services is not one of them.

A 16 year old North Farmington student want arrested today for bringing a loaded gun to school. The student has been taken to Children's Village to await his trial at the Oakland County Probate Court on Friday. At no time did the student reveal the gun or take it out of his backpack and no threats were made against another student or faculty. "After it was reported that a student may have had a gun in the school, police liaisons escorted the student from class and found the .25-caliber handgun with bullets in the clip in his bag." (clickondetroit.com) The student claims he found the gun and police believe he brought it to school to sell it.

]]>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:55:21 GMThttp://carlaschechter.weebly.com/post-spartan-depression/fall-tvIt's that time a year again, after crunchy leaves and warm apple cider, new television is the best thing about fall!

Let's take a look at some of the shows (old and new!) that will be tv to talk about this fall!

Lone Star: I was really psyched for this show for one reason: Jimmy Wolk. I was really excited to hear that a former classmate had found so much success; headlining a new primetime Fox show.

James "Jimmy" Wolk plays a Texas con-man living a double life with two separate women. I liked the premise, it was fairly original in terms of storyline and honestly it's nice break from reality, crime and hospital shows that have been flooding the tube.

The first episode is basically a set-up to introduce the characters and get a feeling for the conflicts those characters might run into along the way. This is an essential part of any pilot, but unfortunately it just didn't go any farther. I kept waiting for something to happen and I didn't see anything I hadn't seen in the teaser trailers over the past few weeks. Apparently the 7 million people that shut it off after watching House agreed. However, I decided to give it a chance and watched the second episode as well. The second episode actually had more promise, there were conflicts and cliffhangers, I was really looking forward to next Monday!

Jimmy's performance stands up, even next to veteran Jon Voight's character. Although he's a newcomer to prime-time TV, North Farmington alums know Wolk is no stranger to the stage. I'm really looking forward to watching his career unfold.

Unfortunately Fox has decided to replace Lone Star with the third season of "Lie to Me." They aren't "cancelling it" but instead moving it to Saturday nights at 11pm.

I think Fox made a few mistakes with this one.1. Running it on Monday night. There were just too many contenders. Dancing With The Stars as well as the new show "The Event" were both in the same time slot. Tuesday would have been a much better option because there wouldn't be as many choices for viewers to have to decide between.2. Starting the show in Fall. I think this show would have done a lot better as either a mid-season show, or even by starting up in the summer and building a fanbase.

Overall, I think Lone Star is a decent show with potential, it's unfortunate that it only got the chance for 2 episodes on primetime TV. Luckily for Jimmy Wolk, he's in a Disney Feature film with Betty White.

No Ordinary Family: Here's another show I DVR'ed this week. Critics are touting this as a "better version of Heroes." Okay, no critics are saying that, but I think so. It's basically a sci-fi dramedy where an "ordinary family" acquire superhuman abilities after a plane crash in the Amazon. Throughout this pilot Michael Chiklis who plays Jim Powell and Julie Benz as Stephanie Powell are explaining, seemingly to the audience, about their lives and how they became superheroes. At the end of the episode the camera pans out and reveals a couples counselor who they have been explaining everything to. This show looks promising, and even though the episode was setting up for the season, I was captivated throughout the whole episode.

More reviews tomorrow!

]]>Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:08:27 GMThttp://carlaschechter.weebly.com/post-spartan-depression/the-japanese-people-really-are-somethingI know this has been floating around the internet for a while now, it's pretty viral at this point, but I still wanted to post it.

Watch some Japanese guys do fake slow motion. The group is called World Order and the song is Mind Shift.